


Pumpkin Spice

by zendrella



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M, coffee shop AU, honestly who isn't a sucker for a good old coffee shop drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 11:33:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20906978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zendrella/pseuds/zendrella
Summary: Will orders a pumpkin spice latte despite hating them, all because the cute barista recommended it to him.





	Pumpkin Spice

**Author's Note:**

> Happy belated birthday to my friend Laur! This one's for you bby <3  
Inspired by [this post](https://soratayuya.tumblr.com/post/166840892352/gay-culture-is-ordering-a-pumpkin-spice-latte-just)

The sharp, inviting smell of coffee drifts out in the streets of Chicago through a door pushed open by a customer, making Will stop dead in his tracks as he walks by. Coffee. He needs coffee right now or he just about might collapse on his way to his apartment.

He backtracks and walks into the small shop, immediately thankful for the warmth. He loosens his scarf as he steps into the short line and looks up at the drink menus.

With fall arriving and Halloween being just around the corner, around half a dozen new drinks have been added since the last time Will was here. New hot chocolates, frapinos and lattes, every single one filled to the brim with pumpkin spice goodness. At least according to the signs. Will makes a face when his eyes land on _ We Love Pumpkin Spice a LATTE! _ Baked pumpkin goods are fine, but he’s never understood the world’s fascination with the pumpkin flavored drinks.

Finally it’s his turn to order, and he steps up to the counter where he is met by a boy around his age.

“Welcome to Deja Brew, what can I get you?” the boy asks with an all too enthusiastic smile on his face.

Will opens his mouth to reply but immediately has to bring his hand up to stifle a yawn. “Whoa – sorry.”

“It’s okay,” the barista, who Will has to admit is very cute, laughs. “Long day?”

Will nods and scans the menu once more. He’s lucky there’s no one in line behind him, but he had three people before him. He should have made up his mind by now. “Um…” He gives up and looks at the barista. “What would you recommend?”

The barista leans against the register and twists around so he can see the menu easier. “Hmm… Have you tried the pumpkin spice latte?”

Will scrunches up his nose at the suggestion, but quickly puts on an interested face when the barista turns back to him. He shakes his head. “Is it any good?”

What?! Why is he pretending to be interested in a pumpkin drink?

The barista lights up, his eyes shining.

Oh. That’s why.

“I love it!” the barista says with a wide smile. “I know it’s very basic, but pumpkin spice is one of the best things about fall.”

“Then I guess I’ll try one,” Will hears himself say.

The barista’s smile widens and he rings up Will’s order. “That’ll be three dollars.”

Will brings out his wallet from his pocket and hands the barista a five dollar bill. “Keep the change.”

The barista smiles as he accepts the money and picks up a cup. “Name?”

“Will.”

The barista nods and carefully spells out Will’s name on the cup, then starts making the pumpkin spice latte. Will leans against the counter while he waits, feeling awkward. There’s nothing to distract himself with in the coffee shop other than two of the three people that had been in front of him, the very few pieces of art hanging on the walls, and the barista.

The _ cute _ barista, Will thinks again and glances at him. His black hair hangs in his eyes and he keeps flipping it away every few seconds. Will smiles to himself as he watches him make the drink. His hands fly across the counter and the machines with swiftness Will has only ever seen in artists. Every press of a button, every swirl of skimmed milk, every single drop of pumpkin syrup is met with skilled expertise.

Will is pulled from his thoughts when the barista puts the drink down on the counter. “Enjoy your drink,” he says, smiling softly at Will.

Will smiles back and pick up the cup. “Thanks. Have a great night.”

“You too, Will,” the barista replies, then turns to clean his workplace.

Will exits the coffee shop kind of reluctantly, not wanting to leave the warmth. Or the barista.

“Shut up, dumbass,” Will mutters to himself. “You’ve only talked to him for like a minute.”

After he’s out of sight of the shop and nears his bus stop, Will finally looks down at the drink in his hand. He can’t believe he actually bought a pumpkin spice latte, something he’s never liked, just because a cute barista suggested it.

_ This is a mistake _, Will thinks as he brings the cup to his lips and carefully takes a sip. He immediately regrets it. Yep, mistake indeed. The drink is almost entirely sugar, and the pumpkin flavor is way too strong. There’s no hint of coffee whatsoever. The whole drink is a mess.

But, to be fair, Will chides himself as he steps onto the bus, there are probably people who enjoy drinking liquid sugar. Apparently the cute barista is one of them.

Will considers throwing the cup away, but decides against it. He needed coffee, and sugar isn’t much of a difference. The sugar high should kick in any minute and it probably won’t be that different to a caffeine kick.

The last of the latte is finished just as Will steps off his bus. He grimaces at the thick layer of syrup and milk collected at the bottom, but hey, at least he finished the drink.

It wasn’t good. Not even a little. The cute barista’s smile was worth the pumpkin poison, though.

Will is about to toss the cup in the trash can outside his apartment building’s entrance when he sees something written beneath the cardboard sleeve. He pulls it down and his eyes widen as he reads the words. It’s just four words, but they are without a doubt written by the barista.

_ I like your wallet _

Will fishes his wallet out of his pocket at looks at it. He barely thinks about it anymore, but sure enough, a plain rainbow flag pattern covers it.

The barista likes his wallet? What is that even supposed to mean? That he supports a random stranger being gay? That he just thought it was cool? That he thought _ Will _ was cool? Or… that he thought Will was… _ cute? _

A dozen thoughts spin around in Will’s head, and before he can think about it, he’s closing the door to his apartment with the cup still in his hand.

* * *

The next day, Will finds himself back at Deja Brew. His feet took him here without him even needing to think about it, but he’s glad he’s here, because so is the cute barista.

There are a lot more customers now though. Yesterday, Will came right around closing, but now he’s just out of his last class for the day and most of the people around him seem to be in the same situation.

Will stretches his neck a little while he stands in line, slowly coming closer to the register. He looks up at the menus, trying to look at them properly this time, but all he can see is the phrase _ We Like Pumpkin Spice a LATTE! _ glaring down at him. _ Go on_, it seems to taunt him, _ buy the gross drink again just to please the barista who you don’t even know_.

With a sigh, Will shakes his head lightly and looks down at his phone. He’s made sure to switch his phone case to his pride one. And he might have dug up all of his pride pins from the bottom of a drawer to put on his backpack. He feels ridiculous for it, but he could have gone even more overboard by wearing rainbow clothes. Pins and a phone case should be enough.

He finally reaches the counter and smiles shyly at the barista. “Hey.”

“Will!” the barista immediately exclaims, his whole face lighting up. “Hi! Welcome back!”

Will blushes a little, hoping the barista doesn’t notice. “You remembered my name?”

The other boy chuckles a little nervously. “Uh, yeah. I um… well not much was going on yesterday, and you stood out a bit.”

Will smiles. “Thank you. I guess?”

The barista smiles back. “Yeah. What can I get you? Another PSL?”

Will almost manages to say no, but then he’s nodding. “Yes, please.” Oh, for God’s sake.

Thirty minutes later he’s sitting in one of the armchairs near the back of the shop, but still with a view of the counter. He keeps looking up from his studying to look at the barista. Actually, to look at Mike.

When Will got his drink, he had almost dropped it the second he took it in his hand because of what was written on it. A phone number, followed by _ –Mike _ and a simple rainbow doodle. He had looked up at Mike, eyes wide, who had just smiled awkwardly before going back to making drinks.

The latte still stands untouched on the table in front of Will. He’s too preoccupied with trying (and failing) to not stare at Mike. During the times he looks down in his books and notes, no information manages to register in his brain, no matter how hard he tries.

Will sighs and leans forward, picking up the paper cup. He doesn’t drink from it, he just stares at the number and the name. _ Mike_. It’s not what he had imagined the barista to be called – not that he thought about him all night until the moment he fell asleep yesterday – but it suits him perfectly.

_ Mike_. Short and simple, unlike the guy himself. He’s tall, Will notices as he observes him interacting with his coworkers, much taller than Will. The impressive swiftness extends past his hands and is prominent in the rest of his body language as well. His voice and laugh carries all the way to Will’s corner, and with every word, Will gets more and more infatuated with him. He can’t help the smile growing on his face as he looks at the number.

Mike obviously has some sort of interest toward Will. Either that, or he comments on rainbow wallets and leaves out his number to random customers all the time. For the sake of society, Will hopes that’s incorrect. For the sake of himself, he completely ignores it as an option and instead opts for ‘cute barista thinks _ I’m _ cute.’

He finally looks away from Mike’s number and takes a sip of the latte. He has to admit that it’s not as horrible as it was the first time, but it’s still way too sweet and doesn’t taste enough like coffee. He takes a few more sips before he puts the cup down and directs his attention to his notes again. If he can just get half of the remaining questions answered before going home, he’ll be satisfied. He just has to power through, wait for the sugar to kick his brain to life, and hope that he doesn’t get too distracted by Mike.

It takes time – as in being too distracted by Mike – but after an hour, Will shoves his textbook into his bag along with the notebook, now with six answered questions added to it. He instead pulls out his sketchbook, flipping it open to an empty page and digging out a pencil from the bottom of the backpack. He’s about to start sketching up ideas for his assignment, when he is interrupted by someone coming up to him. “Hey, Will.”

Will looks up and feels his heart jump out of his chest. “Mike!” He smiles up at the taller boy, trying to ignore his rushing pulse. _ Be cool_. “Hi. What’s up?” _ Or not_.

“I just wanted to say sorry,” Mike says. He rubs the back of his neck and gestures to Will’s latte. “I didn’t mean to freak you out.”

Will looks at the cup and can’t help but smile wider. “No, it’s… it’s fine.”

“You sure?” Mike lets out a nervous laugh. “Cause you seemed kind of… freaked when I handed you that.”

“Sorry,” Will says. “I wasn’t expecting it. But I didn’t mind.”

Mike smiles. “Good. Cause, um… I got you this.” He brings out his hand from behind his back, holding a new cup of coffee. “You can say no, of course, but –”

“Wheeler!” a voice calls from the register. “You’ve only got fifteen minutes left, stop flirting on the job and get back here!”

Mike’s face flushes bright red and he puts the cup down in front of Will. “Sorry. Um, text me?” He turns and rushes back toward the voice yelling at him. Will looks after him, watching as he flips off the guy teasing him, which only results in laughs from the staff.

Will finally looks down at the new cup Mike brought him, and he almost drops his sketchbook.

_ Date Saturday @ 7? _ is scrawled on the lid, followed by a little heart. Will looks back at Mike, who quickly looks away from Will to focus on the customer in front of him. Will can see that he’s still blushing, and before he can stop himself, he’s smiling again. He puts the cup down and packs up his stuff, then brings out his phone. He adds Mike’s number and sends him a text before he gets up and picks up the two cups on the table in front of him. He leaves, sending Mike a smile as he walks past him. Mike smiles back, though he still looks nervous.

When Will comes home, he hangs up his coat and walks into his bedroom. He puts the cups, now both empty, on his dresser, next to the one from yesterday. After dropping his backpack on the floor, he sits down on his bed and gets his phone from his pocket. Just as he unlocks it, a new message comes in. He smiles and opens the text from Mike.

** _Mike — received @ 6:21 PM_ **

_ So does “I have a complaint about your staff” mean no? _

Will laughs as he reads Mike’s text and its reference to what he texted in the shop. That he had a complaint. He smiles to himself as he types his response.

** _Will — sent @ 6:22 PM_ **

_ It means that I have a complaint about a person of the staff. _

** _Will — sent @ 6:23 PM_ **

_ More specifically, this guy who ran off after asking me out. _

Mike’s reply comes almost immediately.

** _Mike — received @ 6:23 PM_ **

_ Shift manager called :( Steve’s an asshole sometimes _

** _Mike — received @6:23 PM_ **

_ But… is that a no? _

Will writes a word, but hesitates with his finger hovering over the send button. He changes his mind and instead goes to Mike’s contact information and calls him.

The dial tone barely rings before Mike picks up. “_Hello?_”

“Hi,” Will says, falling backward to lie down on his bed.

“_I’m sorry about leaving,_” Mike says with a nervous chuckle. “_I meant to stay_.”

Will shakes his head. “It’s okay. I don’t know if I could have gotten out any real words if you had.”

“W_hat do you mean?_”

Will pauses for a moment before answering. “I wouldn’t have known how to say yes without looking like an idiot.”

“_Yes?_” Mike echoes, and Will can all but hear the smile in his voice.

“Yes,” Will confirms with a smile of his own. “A date on Saturday would be nice.”

“_Cool,_” Mike says, “g_reat. Um. I’ll pick you up?_”

Will’s smile widens. “Yeah. I’ll text you the address.”

“G_reat_,” Mike says again. “_Okay. See you then_.”

“Yeah,” Will nods. “I’ll see you.”

Mike hangs up, leaving Will’s room silent. The remaining traces of pumpkin spice latte float through the air, no longer sickeningly sweet. Instead Will feels himself wanting another cup, and as much as he wants to blame Mike, he can’t fight the smile growing on his face as he thinks about the coming Saturday.

He has a date. All because he couldn’t say no to a cute barista recommending a pumpkin spice latte.


End file.
